iPhone For Free

Apple Inc. ran out of iPhones at more than half its stores less than a week after introducing the combination iPod music player and handset in the U.S.

Buyers emptied outlets in 10 states, with 95 of 164 stores reporting sellouts last night, according to Apple's Web site. Cupertino, California-based Apple started selling two models of the iPhone, priced at $499 and $599, on June 29.

Shoppers may have taken home as many as 700,000 iPhones over the weekend, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst David Bailey has estimated, twice his initial projection. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs has sought to use the connection to the iPod business, which pulls in about $10 billion in revenue a year, to reach his goal of selling 10 million phones in 2008.

Apple's stores in Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington sold off their allotment of phones yesterday, leaving buyers to check with AT&T Inc. Apple lists whether stores are out on its Web site.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=afGVODED.wHU&refer=home